Dan Messner

Dan was passionate about his family, law, and cycling – in particular coaching his kids’ sports teams and spending time with their large extended family.

Dan enlisted at Harrisburg in Company F of the 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry on 1 March 1865 and was mustered into service as a private.

Early Life and Education

Oxford was like many small towns across America: it was bypassed by interstate highway development, with people leaving in favor of brighter lights and different lifestyles. Yet one thing remained: Dan Patch, Oxford’s beloved hometown champion standardbred horse. Even today, his stable’s barn stands, housing two sulkies as well as remnants of three stalls that feature cribbing marks on their slats.

Messner gained prominence during the 1970s as a proponent for ascents of Mount Everest without using additional oxygen, and achieved it alongside Peter Habeler in 1978. Additionally, Messner scaled Makalu, Lhotse and Annapurna’s unclimbed North-West Face before opening his Messner Mountain Museum in Monte Rite Dolomites in 2006. Messner is also an active member of South Tyrolean Greens which are only active within Tyrol.

Professional Career

Messner Reeves was his home for complex civil litigation. Dan was an active member of the American Board of Trial Advocates – an invitation-only organization comprised of attorneys who had successfully tried at least 20 civil cases to verdict – as well as being deeply loved by his wife and three children, whom he enjoyed coaching their sports teams, attending events for them, making lasting friendships from various walks of life, being an avid Colorado Rockies fan who considered Coors Field his second home and cycling a form of therapy.

Achievement and Honors

Messner pioneered climbing without oxygen supplementation during the 1970s and, together with Habeler, reached Everest’s summit for the first time in 1978 – an feat deemed impossible by certain doctors and mountaineers at that time. Messner made another attempt in 1984.

Messner owned a dry store in Oxford, Indiana at the time and often made trips to harness races with friends to place small bets with Zelica as pacer. She became adept at this task very quickly.

Messner sold Dan Patch to Manley E. Sturges of New York for an unprecedented sale price of $20,000. At that time, Sturges owned and operated an illegal but highly lucrative casino in Manhattan; during his two year racing career on Dan Patch he earned $625 including winning at Terre Haute’s 400 final race.

Personal Life

Dan had an immense love of family and was actively supportive of all their sports and other activities, including cycling and rooting on his beloved Rockies baseball team.

He fought tirelessly on his client’s behalf and took great pride in being an equity partner at his firm. An accomplished litigator, he could successfully try cases to verdict while being widely known for being hardworking and determined.

Dan is survived by his wife, one son, two daughters, three brothers, four sisters, numerous grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. In his free time he enjoyed boating and diving with his wife as well as watching football and baseball games with family. Dan had an infectious sense of humor and generous heart that will forever remain his legacy.

Net Worth

He currently boasts an estimated net worth of approximately $5 Million and has appeared in movies and television series such as Whiteline, The Game, Fidelity, John Doe: Vigilante and many others. Currently in a relationship with Nadia who shares an avid love for travel as well as animals.

He is best-known for his roles as Petty Officer James King in the short-lived ABC drama Last Resort and Jack Thornton on When Calls the Heart. Additionally, he has made appearances on other television programs including Cops L.A.C, Crownies and Blindspot.

He is an active member of the South Tyrolean Greens, a regionalist and eco-friendly political party based out of Italy, advocating for environmental protection as a global warming activist.